Hope Fails
by Les Miserabby
Summary: The Dark Forest War is over. The battle for survival has begin. r&r.
1. Prologue

Hope Fails

A small silver tabby she-cat with a white chest and white paws padded through the trees, her emerald eyes flashing. The forest still smelled of blood from the war. Her snow white paws turned red as she entered the former ShadowClanClan camp, which had small pools of blood scattered through-out it.

_What will become of us now?_ she thought. _It is obvious that the clans will end, but what shall we do? Will we try to start over again, or will we scatter and kill each other off, becoming nothing more than rogues? _

"Larkwing?" came a voice behind her. She turned, teeth bared, claws unsheathed. "Are you all right?"

She let her fur lie flat again. "Its you, Thornclaw. You can't be to careful these days. I thought you were one of Brezepelt's rogues." The former WindClan she-cat sighed. "WindClan territory belongs entirely to them now. Do you think our ancestors are still watching out for us?"

"I'm sure they are. But the clans are gone now." mewed the former ThunderClan tom.

A golden tom raced into the clearing. "They've taken the ThunderClan side of the stream. We are all doomed!" the resistance cats gathered around. Breezepelt's cats had set up their base in WindClan,, while they had camped in the ShadowClan camp after the final battle.

"Tell us everything, Lionblaze." mewed Dovewing.

"They killed three of us as we defended the stream. We were forced to flee. Firestar is now on his last life." he mewed as the former ThunderClan leader limped into the clearing.

Larkwing's eyes widened in horror. All four clan leaders were slowly loosing their lives. Onestar had three left, Blackstar four, and Mistystar somehow had escaped with eight. And now Firestar was on his last. If Breezepelt had all of WindClan territory, as well as the stream and the ThunderClan bank, there was no way that their cats could become full leaders and recieve nine lives. And they needed that more than anything else now. A connection to StarClan.

"They now call themselves BreezeClan. No doubt after Breezepelt, who apparently is now Breeze_star_." mewed Lionblaze, scorn obvious in his voice.

"Then its useless. We may as well die!" yowled a cat in the background.

"Otterwhisker is right! We have lost!" another cat yowled.

"No! You're wrong! We have not lost yet, we cannot give up hope! Our ancestors would never abandon us!" mewed a she-cat that Larkwing recognized as Heathertail.

"You're the one who's wrong. We have failed. There is no hope left for us. Those who are unwilling to succumb to the coming massacre follow me. They'd never follow us away from here. We should go deeper into the forest, away from the known territories. We'll be safer there." mewed Otterwhisker.

Seven cats followed. Twenty-five were now left standing in the clearing. Firestar, Blackstar, Mistystar, Onestar, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovewing, Sandstorm, Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, Cloudtail, Brightheart, Thornclaw, Reedwhisker, Rowanclaw, Tawnypelt, Crowfeather, Heathertail, Gorsefoot, Petalfur, Ivytail, Icepaw, Lakepaw, Darkpaw, and Larkwing. They were all that was left.

Breezepelt had more cats than they did, no, he was Breezestar. Why would StarClan give him nine lives? No, it was most likely the Dark Forest that had given him nine lives.

_We are all doomed, it will take a miracle for us to survive. What will we ever do now? The clans have ended, that much is certain. We will never be clan cats agian._

"It is over then. The clans are over." mewed Blackstar. "We may as well face it. We can't fight Breezepelt, or Breezestar as he is now called aparently."

"It can't be over, not yet." snarled Firestar. "We have the three, the cats with the pawer of the stars."

"Firestar, you must listen to reson. Breezestar out-numbers us, espescially now that eight of us have left." mewed Onestar. "We have lost our connection to StarClan, we have no allies other than each other, and there could be traitors amongst us. We may as well face it: the clans have ended, we have failed."

"Well, two of us leaders have spoken. Mistystar, what do you think?" asked Firestar.

Mistystar's vote would either tie, or decide the end of the clans. She looked nervous at the amount of pressure placed upon her. In the end, she held her head high, and cast her vote.

"Those who are willing to start over as a new clan, can come with me and Firestar. Assuming he is still determined to continue the clans?" she mewed.

Firestar nodded. The two cats set off with Sandstorm, Cloudtail, Brightheart, Jayfeather, Dovewing, Lionblaze, Reedwhisker, Rowanclaw, Tawnypelt, Heathertail, Squirrelflight, Bramblecaw, and Lakepaw.

Ten cats remained in the clearing.

"Then it is over for us. We may as well stay here for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we shall disperse and become rogues." mewed Blackstar, his voice heavy with defeat.

Larkwing and Thornclaw sat together as everyone else began to disperse to sleep. _Rogues. I will now be a rogue, we all will. How can this be the will of our ancestors? Have they really abandoned us?_ Those words echoed in her mind as she sat there.

"Maybe the clans will be reborn someday," mewed Thornclaw.

"Perhaps. I have faith that they will be. The sun will shine again on the clans," mewed Larkwing. "I know it will."


	2. Chapter 1

**Well, here's chapter 1! Feel free to submit characters for me to use, since this is set some time after the Dark Forest war. **

Chapter 1

Angel glanced around. It seemed safe. There was no sign of any of those freaky cats who murdered anyone who crossed their paths, who called themselves "DarkClan". And no sign of Caine, either. Catiously, she padded out of the bushes. Her target continued not to notice her as she carefully stalked it. Its fluffy brown pelt shone in the sunlight, its tail barely brushed the ground. She stepped closer and closer towards it. She could almost hear it breathing. One more step, then she pounced. The squirrel never saw it coming. One minute it had its back turned towards her as it nibbled at a seed, the next it was food for a starving cat. She had barely begun her meal when she heard a rustle in the bushes.

"Who is it? Who's there?" she growled, standing.

"Its good to see you too, Angel."

"Caine," she hissed, tail lashing. "What do you want?"

"Ten percent of all food caught by each individual cat must go to me, you know that, Angel," Caine growled, coming out of the bushes.

"This is the only food I've had in days, Caine. And none of your followers are around to enforce your harsh rules. I believe that this squirrel is rightfully mine."

"Rightfully yours? Don't make me laugh. It is definitely mine. By law."

"What law? The only law around here is yours, and it is cruel and harsh. In the days of legend, things were good." Angel's tail lashed furiously.

"The days of legend." Caine snorted. "You know its against the law to mention them, and that they are no more than pitiful kit tales."

By now, several other cats had appeared and were watching, some with interest, some with horror and terror.

"For breaking the law, what should her punishment be? Death?" Caine's yowl echoed through the clearing.

Several cats took up the call. "Death! Death! Death!"

Angel cowered in terror. Caine took a few steps towards her. She shrank back against a tree. He raised a paw, claws unsheathed, and raked them across her throat.

"There is som much i wish I could have told you." Angel whispered. With a strangled cry, Angel slumped to the ground, dead. Her eyes, with were now clouded in death, remained fixed straight ahead in terror. A small silver and white tabby she-cat cowered in terror, staring at the limp body of her dead mother. Lark couldn't believe that her mother was dead, refused to believe that she had seen her brutily murdered before her eyes. And yet she had been, and she knew it. She would have to find her own way now. However much she didn't want to. Without a sound, she turned and walked away from the clearing. She didn't know where she was going, only that she had to get out of there, and now. She broke into a run, and found herself going faster than she had known possible. She splashed easily through the river, not caring that her pelt was wet, and into the thick cover of the towering pine trees. She continued to run, eventually leaving the cover of the pines and reaching the deciduous woodland, where she climbed into the thick branches of a tall oak. She found a nice, thick branch, and curled up on it, drifting into sleep.

_Lark found herself staring at a group of cats. One, a silver and white tabby, looked oddly identical to her._

_"It is over then. The clans are over." mewed a white cat with black paws. "We may as well face it. We can't fight Breezepelt, or Breezestar as he is now called aparently."_

_"It can't be over, not yet." snarled a muscular ginger tom. "We have the three, the cats with the pawer of the stars."_

_"Firestar, you must listen to reson. Breezestar out-numbers us, espescially now that eight of us have left." mewed a wiry brown tom. "We have lost our connection to StarClan, we have no allies other than each other, and there could be traitors amongst us. We may as well face it: the clans have ended, we have failed."_

_"Well, two of us leaders have spoken. Mistystar, what do you think?" asked the ginger tom._

_Mistystar's vote would either tie, or decide the end of the clans. She looked nervous at the amount of pressure placed upon her. In the end, she held her head high, and cast her vote._

_"Those who are willing to start over as a new clan, can come with me and Firestar. Assuming he is still determined to continue the clans?" she mewed._

_Firestar, the ginger tom, nodded. The two cats set off with thirteen other cats.  
_

_Ten cats remained in the clearing._

_"Then it is over for us. We may as well stay here for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we shall disperse and become rogues." mewed the white tom, his voice heavy with defeat._

_Two cats sat together as everyone else began to disperse to sleep._

_"Maybe the clans will be reborn someday," mewed one of the two, a tom._

_"Perhaps. I have faith that they will be. The sun will shine again on the clans," mewed the other, a she-cat, seeming to stare straight at Lark. "I know it will."_

_"There is so much I wish I could have told you..."  
_

Lark jolted awake from her dream. She remembered the stories of the time of legends, and this dream was similar to the last chapter before now. _The sun will shine again on the clans... _Was it an omen of some sort? _There is so much I wish I could have told you... _Her mother's last words. And the cat from her dream who was identical to her had said them. Lark narrowed her eyes, and rose to her paws. She would figure it out._  
_


End file.
